My mom drank Natural Light.

Let me take down the room. My mother was teetotal to counter my father's horrific alcoholism. He drank a bottle and a half of Schnaaps or Southern Comfort a day.

Mom, free from dad, now enjoys an occasional glass of wine. I'm teetotal.

t's FRIDAY! After reading this short article, I was thinking... I don't really ever recall seeing my parents drink. I may have seen my mom enjoy a glass of wine once or twice, or heard my dad order a Long Island Iced Tea when we were in Lake Havasu, but that's it.

Apparently my love of good vodka, Maker's Mark and cold beer was not genetic. That being said, do you remember what your parents/ grandparents drank or which beverages they still enjoy today? What is your favorite? Did they have happy hour rituals or did that disappear with the surge of that despicable thing called "political correctness"?

What's my favorite? Well, thank you for asking! I have a new found love for the Moscow Mule served in a freezing cold copper mug (Thank you Calebshu). Add some muddled mint straight from the garden and it cannot be beat. Although a nice cold beer and a shot of Maker's gives the Mule a run for it's money.

Love the pic! Beautiful tray!! My mom swears that Rolling Rock is the only thing that doesn't give her a hangover. I tell her it's because she only has one! haha

My mom drinks Jim Beam and Diet Coke with a squeeze of lime... My dad, after being told he can't have soft drinks anymore, has switched to a nice Bourbon and water. When I was a kid, they drank more beer (either Coors Lite or Miller Lite). My drinks of choice are also Bourbon and beer (although a slightly higher quality beer), so it's clearly genetic or acquired tastes.

My grandfather came home every workday when my mom was a kid and mixed a pitcher of martinis. I can't wait to get my hands on his martini set!

My mom and dad always enjoyed a glass of scotch on the rocks, preferably Dewar's. Also, fresh squeezed grapefruit juice, vodka straight from the freezer, in a nice glass filled generously with ice. Now they are two of my favorite cocktails!

In restaurants, my dad often ordered a whiskey sour --- and gave me the cherry, yum. He switched drinks (usually to wine) around the time I outgrew eating someone else's cocktail cherry. That means he probably never knew how many bars steep their cherries in liquor. OOPS. Whiskey sour is the first shaker-cocktail I learned to make!

My mother drank whiskey sours, the occasional Manhattan, or whatever festive cocktail seemed appropriate to the setting (Frozen Margarita? OKAY!), but these days she has a very clear, simple drink order: bourbon and five big chunks of ice. At home, she uses an insulated glass so it stays cold (and not watered down) as long as possible. She's even brought us a glass so she can use it when she comes over for dinner parties. She is NOT KIDDING AROUND.

My parents would drink what they called "Pirate Juice" on the balcony of their beach house, especially at sunset... Myer's Dark rum, coca cola classic, and fresh lime juice. Now they call it "Cuba Libre" and make it with Flor de Cana rum, Mexican coke, and those juicy little key limes.

Milk.

Late afternoon, my father would come in from his long day fixing appliances. To make the break from physical labor to home he'd have one drink: maybe a beer, maybe a Screwdriver, maybe a glass of Burgundy.

Bacardi and tonic with a lime. The best!

My parents are teetotalers and I am one as well. They aren't the tambourine banging types but the quiet types that just don't find booze necessary. On top of that, hooch is expensive and they aren't close to being rich (or middle class some days.)

My in-laws can't seem to have a party without bringing booze. It disgusts me, personally.

My dad has had a manhattan every day at 5:00 for over 40 years. My mom, not so much. I know exactly how to make my dad's Manhattan and he likes no cherry, but he does like the bitters.....

You can set your watch by my parents 6:00pm martini making ritual. Half Beefeaters, half Booths and they just wave the bottle of vermouth past for fun.

My father's parents drank gin martinis, my parents drink gin martinis, my uncle and his partner drink gin martinis, my sister and brother-in-law drink gin martinis, my partner and I drink gin martinis.

While the brand of choice and the debate of Twist v Olive may occur (I'm a Plymouth, no garnish, thank you), we all agree, they must be very dry.

When we ate at restaurants only one of my parents would drink. Dad sometimes a beer, mom sometimes a glass of red, but the one drink you could vote with 90% certainty was a Ceasar, spicy, and watch out if you tried to give either of them a lime! Only lemons will do. Now its one of my favourites, although I do take mine even spicier.

Let's see, Mom's drink of choice was a Manhattan; Dad's was Johnny Walker, I think red label, but not 100%; Foster-Dad was 7&7 or Old Fashion; Foster-Mom was wine, pina colada, brandy alexander.

My parents don't drink, but we kids drink like fish. We picked up our love of '50s alcohol culture on visits to our grandparent's. At their house, there was a special chime to play for Happy Hour. Gramp would get home at 5:05 from the car dealership and make cheap scotch and sodas or gin&tonics for himself and Granny, and bring me gimlets, which were somehow considered a baby drink to them. How great they tasted as I sat listening to Sinatra records on the Hi-fi. Happy Hour is alive and well in all our houses to this day, though on weekends mainly. Classic, top-drawer cocktails made with Gramp's old Bar Boy jigger are the drinks of choice.

My Sweet little Mom was just a Tetley Tea drinker. No milk - no lemon - just a little sugar.
Maybe she should have tried your Mom's Manhatan.........wonder what that would have been
like.......... Joyce Snyder

My mother had a sloe gin fizz every weekend - I suspect it was very weak. She always ordered an Old Fashioned when she went out and would drink half then declare herself tipsy. My dad drank half a can of Milwaukee's Best light every day after work until he quit smoking and realized what it tasted like.

neither of my parents were/are big drinkers, but my dad loves a cold beer on a hot day, and when i was growing up i remember he almost always chose Miller (or occasionally a Corona, with lime and salt). he would give us a tiny sip if we asked for one, and we thought it was disgusting every time! they rarely kept any alcohol in the house at all, though. when i got older i realized that my parents actually did drink wine or cocktails occasionally, but only when they were out somewhere fancy---i.e. out without the kids, so we never saw it. i inherited a similarly laid-back, take-it-or-leave it approach to drinking; it simply doesn't occur to me to keep liquor in the house most of the time. and, i still hate beer!

Whenever we would go out for dinner at nice restaurants my father would drink a brandy old fashioned sour with cherry juice. All other times we would drink miller lite. I have never seen him drink anything other than brandy or beer. My mother would never drink much at all. I have seen her have a wine cooler and some margaritas and I am currently getting her turned onto wine. I have followed my fathers taste for beer, but I actually have never had a brandy old fashioned sour. Although I do enjoy a good brandy slush with the family at Christmas time.

My maternal grandmother was a gin and tonic gal.
My Mom liked a snort of sherry after a long day of work.

Growing up, my parents (who grew up with their parents having religious weekend happy hour, Northern California by-the-pool-style) drank Old Fashion's. Then later moved on to martinis (mom: non-chilled vodka; dad a chilled gin martini with onions.) Dad even had a special way of spraying just a dash of vermouth in the glass before pouring in the martini.

Got a few good laughs out of some of these posts!!

My grandparents were devout happy hour hosts. Seemed like the entire neighborhood was there. And it was martini's, always martinis. There's a family photo that shows my grandmother holding a small hatchet up to my grandfather as he casually sips his martini.

My mom doesn't really drink. I think I remember seeing the same bottle of cheap wine in the fridge for at least 10yrs. I remember a giant bottle Canadian Mist permanently affixed in the cupboard (not the same bottle, like my mother). As well the kegerator (sp?) on the sun porch. So I learned from a very early age how to pour a beer from a tap. I'm sure he knew what I was doing, but I would offer to refill his beer, but not without a few chugs for myself!

My dad likes bad beer and meh wine. My mom likes a margarita now and again. I like good beer, good wine, and frozen margaritas at Mexican restaurants. :)

Funny--I didn't realize until seeing this post that cocktails were seasonal in my home, and I still tend to drink them only in the summer. It was wine with dinner at my house. On particularly hot summer evenings, the gin and tonic would come out, and my brothers would warn me that dinner would be late "because Mom is drinking." We kids would tear through the tray of raw veggies left for us as "hors d'oevres" while our parents sipped that single cocktail. Always annoyed the hell out of us. Twerps that we were.

In my childhood my parents never had alcohol, always tea with meals and bottled soft drinks for refreshments. In my grown up years, my stepfather liked formality and I appreciated the bourbon and ginger ale before dinner custom. I make one in his memory once in a while.

I've never been much of an alcohol lover, much to the amazement of my partying family! My mom loves her fruity cocktails and wines. She used to drink Long Beach Iced Tea or Orange Pina Coladas and she loves Sangria (but it has to have brandy in it!). Recently, she has switched to Mojitos because my dad perfected his recipe for them. 2 shots coconut rum, one shot sweetened lime juice, shake with ice and bruised mint leaves, and then cover with Sprite. Dad likes gin and tonics, beer, or rum and coke. My sister is a rum and coke fanatic! We mostly drink when we're hanging out by the pool or having a board game night.

Here's a different on about the Manhattan: It's very popular on a small rural German island called Foehr, but nowhere else in Germany. The reason is that many of the islanders migrated to the US some time in the 60ies. A lot of them returned later and brought the recipe for Manhattan (with cherry). So even if all Americans stop drinking Manhattan, it'll live on in Foehr...

My parents didn't drink too much when us kids were young, but I remember seeing a glass with clear liquid on the counter once and sipping it thinking it was water... it was definitely gin and I definitely did NOT like it (I was probably 12? 13?) Nowadays my parents love their gin&tonics, and my mom really enjoyed wine up until it became the main trigger of her migraines. (Lucky for me, I get to raid the basement wine cellar everytime I travel home!!!) I inherited her love of red wine, and my dads inability to drink more than one beer (too fizzy!), and my sister and I love our cranberry vodkas & margaritas.

My dad: Canadian whiskey, neat;
My mom: Sloe gin fizz;
Me? Whiskey sour on the rocks.

My mom was a big gin and tonic drinker. All through my teens and 20s, I haaaated gin. Now? It's pretty much all I drink.

I loved cocktail hour at home on special occasions, like birthdays, blizzards, or report card days. My parents frequently had Manhattans, but sometimes they had other things - beer or wine or soda or iced tea. But the point was never their drinks, it was that we kids got special glasses - martini glasses or other glam (to us) barware - and we got to put in cherries and bits of pineapple on skewers in the soda or fruit juice. It was all about the containers and the accessories for us. And it still is. I love glassware.

Also, of course, it was a nice family time everyone sitting together, talking, eating hors d' oeuvres in a civilized fashion.

My parents have had vodka gimlets (Rose's Lime Juice!) my whole life. At some point they started to specify the vodka, but always, always the insistence on Rose's.

My grandma had vodka gimlets till she was 93. If you got to her house at 3 in the morning from a redeye flight she'd get out of bed to have a gimlet with you. I miss her so much!

My husband's father drinks brandy Manhattans. Apparently it's a Michigan thing?

I am laughing out loud at some of these posts. The pictures they paint...
My dad would have the occasional beer, especially during summer/baseball months. My mom rarely drank but I do recall her making/serving grass hoppers and brandy alexanders at Christmas. My mom, her sister and all the ladies would drink these. It always seemed very festive to me!
Once I left a bottle of Frangelico at her house after a family party. I never saw it again. She confided that she would have a little glass each time she ironed and before she new it the bottle was empty. :)

My mother drank rum and Coke; my dad drank Scotch with milk (don't ask, I have no idea).
My favorite drink is a Manhattan but only in the winter. In the summer, it is homemade iced tea (no Long Island or anything else alcoholic).

My grandparents-in-law have a very strict regimen: at 4pm, Grandpa starts in on his 3 Budweisers. Grandma gets her one glass of boxed red wine. On Christmas she gets 3.

My grandma likes a margarita or a glass of rose or a light beer.

My mother-in-law drinks anything.
My father-in-law drinks anything.

My parents were never big drinkers (or weren't when they were around us kiddos). My dad's favorite is a Tequila Sunrise or Crown & Coke and I've never seen anyone suck back a margarita faster than my mom (salt, rocks, thank you).

My husband prefers IPAs at a regular HH and a scotch or whiskey if he's feelin fancy.
I'm a wino.